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Re: The 'Heart Sutra' Returns!

You know what would be great after the Heart Sutra (unless you are going to start our Jukai lessons in your sit-a-longs)? Talks on Sandokai. That's another favorite. I'm finally a little less busy than usual (although here I am still at work) and started back on my books.

Re: The 'Heart Sutra' Returns!

Hi Tracy,

Yes, I am thinking to do Master Dogen's Bendowa next (it is not too long), then Sandokai (sometimes called names like "Harmonious Song of Difference and Sameness" or "The Ideantity of Relative and Absolute". We chant it at Treeleaf during our monthly long Saturday Zazenkai ...

Pretty wild stuff ...

IDENTITY OF RELATIVE AND ABSOLUTE
(SANDOKAI)
The mind of the Great Sage of India was intimately Conveyed from west to east.
Among human beings are wise ones and fools,
But in the Way there is no northern nor southern Ancestor.
The subtle source is clear and bright;
The tributary streams flow through the darkness.
To be attached to things is illusion;
To encounter the absolute is not yet enlightenment.
Each and all, the subjective and objective spheres are related,
And at the same time, independent.
Related, yet working differently, though each keeps its own place.
Form makes the character and appearance different;
Sounds distinguish comfort and discomfort.
The dark makes all words one;
The brightness distinguishes good and bad phrases.
The four elements return to their nature as a child to its mother.
Fire is hot, wind moves, water is wet, earth hard.
Eyes see, ears hear, nose smells, tongue tastes the salt and sour.
Each thing comes out from the root Like branches and leaves from a tree.
Cause and effect must return to the great reality.
The words high and low are used relatively.
Within light there is darkness, But do not try to understand that darkness.
Within darkness there is light, But do not look for that light.
Light and darkness are a pair, Like the foot before and the foot behind in walking.
Each thing has its own virtue And relates to everything in function and position.
Ordinary life fits the absolute as a box and its lid.
The absolute works together with the relative Like two arrows meeting in mid-air.
Reading words you should grasp the great reality.
Do not judge by any standards.
If you do not see the Way, you do not see it even as you walk on it.
When you walk the Way, it is not near, it is not far.
If you are deluded, you are mountains and rivers away from it.
I respectfully say to those who wish to be enlightened:
Do not waste your time by night or day.

Re: The 'Heart Sutra' Returns!

Sandokai (sometimes called names like "Harmonious Song of Difference and Sameness" or "The Ideantity of Relative and Absolute"

Or, in Janis Joplin Roshi's version, "It's all the same shit, man"

Hojo-san, have you decided which versions will be the official ones? A wild idea: we all choose one af a list of 3 versions of Bendowa, and the discussion will then enrich as we work from different interpretations.